Coffee

I LOVE coffee. I look forward to a delicious cup of joe each and every morning. I especially love fall and winter because there are new varieties of fun festive creamers. White Peppermint for example. Or even better Pumpkin Spice! At home (Well before when I lived in America :) I would make exactly one cup from my Keurig, place exactly one tablespoon of creamer and approximately a half a packet of Splenda. Perfection. I am so sad to say that the coffee here in Hong Kong is HORRIBLE. For the most part they only sell instant coffee at the grocery store. I have yet to see an actual coffee maker anywhere. I have been told that they do exist but are very expensive. I recall my late Grandma Mero drinking instant coffee (I think Folgers?) with a great amount of cream and sugar. Here in Hong Kong they sell "2 in 1" as well as "3 in 1" coffee packets (2 in 1 coffee and milk, 3 in 1 coffee, milk and sugar). The flavor is't great, the coffee is very weak and there is quite a high number of calories per cup!

Another coffee that is huge out here is the infamous chilled Nescafe drinks. There are typically 3 varieties sold at every 7-11 for $8 (this is approximately $1 in America). These are chilled little cans. If I'm in a pinch, these can do the trick.

McCafe is VERY big out here, as is McDonalds in general! There is at least one Micky D's on every corner and they are always incredibly busy! The McCafe has their own separate booth at McDonalds. It is more like a Starbucks counter with specialty coffee drinks and pastries. The drinks there are generally $24-40 HK. Too much for my blood.

THANKFULLY there are many Starbucks in Hong Kong! I guess they really are taking over the world. Unfortunately, they are just as expensive here as they are in America. My delicious skinny vanilla latte is about $4 in America and about $32 HK which equals out. How I wish I could go to Starbucks everyday, sigh.....

There is another great coffee place called Pacific Coffee. They are Starbucks competitor. Their prices, pastries and food are comparable to Starbucks.

Everybody wish me luck on finding a better coffee solution!

School Has Started!

We began our training for Cannan Kindergarten on Monday 9/5/12. The training was....interesting. We learned about the History of our schools. The trainer also told us the mission/vision of the school. She told us we should memorize this in case anybody asks (I later learned from people who have worked here awhile that this was the first they had heard about this). The training ended with a delightful clip from Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, I Believe. Very interesting choice...

Myself along with the other three teachers at my school went back to our location. We had the task of making an English Board. How four adults took 4+ hours to complete a hap hazzard board I'll never know. These Chinese teachers have the most amazing boards I've ever seen! They spend many, many hours on this.

The second day at School I noticed a very large group of elderly Chinese people doing some Tai Chi in the court yard in front of my school. These people are legit. They have swords and everything. We sat around, again, perfecting our English Board. The two returning teachers helped us two newbies with some ideas. I was grateful to Tracy as she taught the Pn Class (pre-nursery) the year before and this is the group I will be working with. Pre-nursery means that they are between the ages of 18 months through 2 years. Once they turn three they are in the N Class (Nursery).

Wednesday the "bigger" kids came to school. Our duties include meeting them at the door, spraying their hands with alcohol, making sure their temperature was taken at home (if not they need to have it taken at school). The English teachers are asked to be standing in front saying Hello, Good Morning/Afternoon. While the children are walking in there is music being played....very weird music for children....it starts out fine with Puff the Magic Dragon but then includes songs like How Many Roads, Country Road, etc.

My little babys didn't show up until Thursday. There was a group of kids that came to summer school. Those children came to class without their parents. A larger group came with their parents Thursday, Friday and Monday so they could get acclamated to preschool. There is a LOT of crying going on. On Thursday I held a crying child for an hour straight. This little bou would only stop to say "go home go home go home". You could get him to stop crying if you said, "one two three SMILE!" He would stop to smile and then start crying again.

The Peak

We traveled up the winding roads on the double decker bus up to Victoria Peak. The view is breath taking!